U.S. bank earnings jump 11.9 percent in Q4; loan losses up

WASHINGTON – U.S. bank earnings jumped 11.9 percent in the final three months of 2015 compared with the previous year on rising revenue, and legal expenses declined as some big banks wound down legal settlements that arose from the financial crisis.

At the same time, data issued Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. showed that losses from loans increased for the first time in five and a half years. The increase in loans that banks wrote off as uncollectible was especially strong – 43.4 percent – for industrial borrowers as plummeting oil prices hurt energy companies.

The FDIC reported that U.S. banks earned $40.8 billion in the October-December quarter, up from $36.4 billion a year earlier.